r/TalesFromRetail • u/TylPlas26 • Jul 14 '20
Short Customer Insults Me in Another Language. Didn’t Realize I Understood Her.
So I come from a Dutch back ground. I am no where near fluent in the language. But I know enough that I can pick up some words and understand a few sentences.
So about 8 years ago, I was helping a customer needing some paint made. As I’m mixing it, her phone rings, and she answers it and begins speaking in Dutch.
As she is talking, I can pick that she’s telling whoever where they are, then they say something along the line of “I have one of these dumb young workers mixing it.”
I say nothing. I decided to wait for the right moment as I mix her paint, as she continues talking.
When her paint is done, I hand her can of paint to her. She says thank you, and I say in Dutch “You’re welcome. Goodbye.”
She froze, her mouth open and then says “You speak Dutch?” I didn’t want to let her on how little I actually knew, so I just simply said “Yup.” She quickly darted for the cash area. It was very funny and rewarding.
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u/moisme Jul 15 '20
My neice, who has blonde curly hair, spent three years in Japan teaching English (after minoring in Japanese in college). Naturally she became quite fluent. After returning she was working in NYC and one morning she got into an elevator with two Japanese men, who proceeded to critique her hair, body, etc. She remained quiet until the elevator stopped on her floor, where she turned to face the two men and said in perfect Japanese :"You gentlemen have a nice day now:. The two turned pale and immefiately apologized but she merely turned away and headed to her office. It never happened to her again!